BardicKnowledge

I bought my current processor from zircon for ~$100 or so, and my graphics card is available for less than $50 (though I'd advise you spend $100 on a Radeon 4850 currently). That's the majority of the parts for a nice PC for $200. Add one HD, power supply, case, and you're looking at $400-$500 for a decent gaming rig.

A few of us had a great time playing both sides of the Outpicked games from the HoN Strategy Forums -- I'd encourage everyone to participate in it next time the forums start it up.

I'm convinced that Barbed Armor is a decent choice now that it returns true damage. Especially for characters that need to provide a good reason to not target them (demented shaman especially, who I use it on currently).

You can get a Radeon HD 4850 for $100 now, and it'll be even cheaper on Black Friday (when I'm going to get mine). People talk about a "gaming" computer costing $800, but if you have a home desktop, it's not actually going to cost you that much. I'm running a 2.4Ghz quad core with a Nvidia 7800GTX atm and can run Source just fine. Hell, Fallout 3 runs just fine. My processor is a full generation back, and my graphics card is TWO generations back, and I don't have a problem. It's easy to get a gaming-capable PC these days. Edit: When you buy your next notebook, take gaming into consideration. Get an independent graphics card if you want to play games, simple as that. My wife's laptop, while not GREAT for gaming, has an Nvidia 9400M inside, and runs Heroes of Newerth and emulation stuff well enough. If I lowered the settings a ton, it'd probably play TF2 / L4D just fine also.

This. I've seen films that made me physically uncomfortable while watching them. Films like Crash that actively make YOU the watcher feel guilty and responsible for the types of behavior that occur. I still wouldn't describe it as an "entertaining" movie, but am I glad I saw it? Absolutely. There is room for games to do this also, and I'd pay good money to see it; screw the "masses".

I love demented shaman, he's such a blast to play. I have a new item build to try on him next time I play also...looking forward to games tomorrow.

shouldn't have remade, you guys would have killed.

lol.

Similarly, lots of titles have left out anything that could lead to controversy. For instance, it is more or less respectful to Holocaust victims and survivors that we never find Jewish families in German buildings playing Call of Duty? Personally, the idea of rescuing hidden survivors seems very cool -- it'd be even cooler if we saw the soldier's emotional reactions to the horror they endured. While I understand that it might have offended people (and I'm not saying that they aren't entitled to that opinion), is it worse that there hasn't been a single AAA World War II based game that acknowledges anything but the most remote existance of what actually happened? Edit: Also sephfire, excellent job as usual -- looking forward to the next one!

If new witch runs around in the dark also, it will be fucking scary. Can't imagine turning a corner only to have her be _right_ there. I'm hoping for a random mix of witches at night...would keep us on our toes at least.

Luke remind me the next time you see me ingame, and I'll take care of that.

I really think a large part of this is the music, as BGC said earlier. The witch music in L4D1 was creepy as hell. Not so much in L4D2. Similarly, the "horde is coming" theme was subtle in the original -- in L4D2 it's this crazy loud New Orleans cover version that just sounds silly. Hopefully the music reverts to more moody again as night approaches...

What a load of bullshit. How would you like to go six months without access to a computer or the Internet? It's not like you'd die or anything -- it's not a need. Therefore, because it's a "want", I should be able to get it for free. No one asked those guys to be computer engineers. I also "want" a 32gb iPod Touch and a new graphics card. Get on it. If you are trying to tie happiness into money, you need to re-evaluate your definition of happy.

Golden Sun is easily the best RPG on the GBA (with the possible exceptions of the FF ports). Together with its sequel, it's bigger than most console RPGs of the same time period. In any case, this looks good, and I will try it sometime early next week.

Wow, that's badass. $750 is a ton of cash, but it's still awesome that you found it.

I've also been interested in this for quite some time -- if anyone finds anyone that does custom cylinders, please let us know. I'd be willing to pay quite a bit for someone to take some sheet music I've arranged and make an appropriate cylinder for a music box.

I'm still watching, and laughed a ton at that reference. MUCH better than the previous few seasons, but not as good as season 1 / the start of season 2 yet.

Zero, I never once said that you couldn't do it, even with a melee char. However, if you stand forward so often as to be capable of it in a real game, you'll be stunned and destroyed after they harass you down to 2/3 health. A _big_ part of good laning is not dying, and encouraging people to try to get EVERY deny and lasthit doesn't breed cautiousness in new players. That being said, if I'm up against someone better than me, I prefer to force my opponent to choose between a deny and a lasthit as often as possible, to guarantee myself one of the two. If I'm the better player, then I go for more stuff because I don't fear the harass/punishment as much.

You'd have to do more than the last-hit (hard deny or hit enemy creeps way early) in order to get every creep on both sides -- otherwise you'll have to choose between EITHER a last-hit or a deny as the creeps kill each other simultaneously. Not saying it isn't possible, but it's a lot of work that isn't anywhere near realistic in actual play. IMO better to work toward a goal of 5-6 total denies or lasthits a wave, which is likely by a skilled player ingame. Then you're getting a little over half of all creep kills -- not a bad position to be in.

Worst ranged animation is probably either Pyro or TB here. Worst melee is Keeper of the Forest imo (practice without his +damage skill on).

I don't know if I'm going yet -- I'm not into anime enough to warrant me attending for more than one day, and they don't sell day-passes Either way, I'll be glad to go out for a drink with OCR folks, as I live 10 miles from the Mall of America.

Assuming that Geo is luxury at best, I would skip Slash and get Nullfire instead. Nullfire's slow combined with your already high movespeed will destroy people 1v1 -- and it helps more with teamfights also. The only downside is that it's more expensive and delays frostfield / charged hammer. Still something to consider though.

He's much more useful than Scout, as smoke bomb really helps in teamfights. Backstab also scales quite well if you get Nullfire and (very late) Wingbow. As long as you don't become too confident with the invis and start feeding everywhere, he does pretty well.

Alright guys, some strategy time. First, don't try to gank lanes with 2 stunners in them with less than 4 people -- it won't work and you'll feed. Second, Swift + Elec is NOT a good lane combo no matter what anyone tells you. As long as they have one good stunner, they'll just wait for elec to launch, and then immediately break his channeling with stun. That's not even the main reason though -- the main reason they suck is because that combo is the ONLY thing they can do. Versatility adds a TON to a lane -- keep that in mind. Also, choose pairs of heroes that lane well together. Don't pick 5 heroes who are a "good" lineup just because you have 1 carry, 1 ganker, 2 supports and a tank/semi-carry. Pick combos of heroes that actually work.

NJ, nothing is confirmed on it yet. My guess is that if you can "acquire" the map files, then you will eventually be able to play L4D1's maps in L4D2. Someone will make it so once the SDK gets released even if Valve doesn't...